NYPD precinct cited for alcohol, command problems Action comes in officer's vehicular homicide case August 9, 2001 Posted: 7:25 AM EDT (1125 GMT)

New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik announces the disciplinary action. NEW YORK (CNN) -- The investigation of a New York police officer charged with killing three while driving drunk has mushroomed into scandal after officials announced disciplinary action against officers accused of drinking with the suspect in a topless bar or in the nearby precinct parking lot.

New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik ordered the suspensions Wednesday of five officers and the transfers of five others from the city's 72nd Precinct, including the precinct's commanding officer, executive officer and integrity control officer.

New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said the disciplinary action should "send a very clear message that drinking and being a police officer is a very dangerous combination."

"Police officers on duty, or traveling back and forth to work, or traveling anywhere, shouldn't be drinking and getting behind the wheel of a car, and they shouldn't be drinking because they have a gun with them," said Giuliani, who announced the suspensions and transfers at a news conference with Kerik on Wednesday evening.

New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Police Commissioner Bernark Kerik announce that 17 police officers will be disciplined (August 8) The investigation began when officer Joseph Gray was arrested Saturday night and charged after his van struck and killed Maria Herrera, her 4-year-old son Andy and her sister, Dilcia Pena. The three were run down while crossing a street in the Sunset Park area of Brooklyn. Herrera's unborn child was delivered in an emergency procedure after the accident but later died.

Police say blood tests show Gray was drunk when his van hit the family. He was charged with multiple counts in connection with the accident, including vehicular homicide.

Gray was on his way to work at the time of the accident.

Police now say four other officers had been drinking with Gray at the Wild Wild West topless bar, which is off limits to officers from the 72nd Precinct, Kerik said. The fifth suspended officer, a supervising sergeant, was accused of drinking in the precinct parking lot.

The three ranking officials of the precinct were not cited for any alcohol-related conduct, but given the number of officers involved, Kerik said he had questions about the precinct's leadership.

"If (officers) feel freely that they can sit in a parking lot, consume alcohol and go to an off-limits location in that precinct, I just have to question the commanding officer's ability to control his people," Kerik said.

Giuliani said other police officers were cooperative in the investigation and that there's been "no blue wall of silence." He also said Gray has not received any special treatment.

But the families of the victims, and many New Yorkers, were infuriated when Gray was released without bail Sunday after his arraignment.

Giuliani agreed, saying the officer "should have been held on high bail whether he was or he wasn't a police officer. Everybody should be held to an extremely high standard when it comes to drunk driving."

'He is supposed to protect us' The brother of two women killed when run over by a NYPD officer comforts a family friend after a wake Wednesday. "We want him to pay for what our family is going through, for all of the pain we are going through," said Kathy Pena, the victims' cousin. "A police officer is supposed to serve us, he is supposed to protect us. How is he going to protect us when he's drunk?"

Earlier, Giuliani said Gray got no preferential treatment from the arresting officers, who were from his own precinct. "They treated him in a very, very strict way, which is the way we treat everybody alleged to be involved with drunk driving."

Here is the breakdown of the actions taken against the officers:

-- The five officers transferred included the commanding officer, executive officer and integrity control officer, along with two sergeants who supervised the precinct's day shift.

-- The five officers suspended included two sergeants accused of drinking alcohol in the precinct parking lot -- one of whom visited the Wild Wild West -- and three officers who were said to be drinking at the topless bar.

-- The seven officers put on modified duty were cited for drinking in the precinct parking lot.

Gray has also been suspended.

-- Anonymous, August 09, 2001